Salutes to the Soil

Mockingbird To emancipate myself from mental slavery To break the restraint of life To be lost in one timeless scene To stare To stare as if it wasn’t considered impolite The time you get lost in the disturbance of the baby bird’s fur The waves generated by silent chewing When your head bobs simultaneously with his Down as he grasps the seed Up as he engulfs it Over and over Perched above is a single being Perched above is a mockingbird Mocking me because he knows None but ourselves can free our minds - Laurence Diarra

Things That Bite It’s quiet. Above me stands a palm tree, Tapered and still, Fronds erupting, Water in A fountain of silence. It stretches high like a marble pillar At Mount Olympus, Reaching to kiss the clouds, Kissing my eyelids shut. It’s quiet. White light floods my eyes, Blinds me. The clouds glare down at me, Spewing light like a hot iron, “Look at this thing you’ve done,”

Birds are twittering, Their sound pecks at the side of my head, But louder, Beating my right ear numb, The sounds of cars Peeking at me through the bushes, Following me like a shadow, Even the smell of greenery, The lush bushes flooding around me, Smells like smoke and lemons. It’s quiet. A woodchip wrestles between my fingers. A chill comes over me. The wood is smooth, Soft with a century of dust.

It squeezes be-neath my fingers, And as I raise my eyes to meet it It bites me. “Rest your eyes, Your fingers will see.” “Look at this thing you’ve done.” - Sam Khalsa

Timeline Sitting here on this squeaky

bench, I explore my vast surround-

ings, With curious eyes.

Every acre of the ground is covered with pure beauty.

Tiny birdhouses of every color hang from a long tree.

Everywhere I look, I see plants of every size and color.

Colors that are vibrant and col-ors are dull,

Warm and cool colors of plain nature.

For a moment, Everything is silent and still.

Then I feel the gentle breeze flutter through the chilly air, Making everything sway just

the slightest bit. I look up,

And I see bugs of every size fly around in every direction, Unsure of where to go next.

I hear the drip of the water from the tree,

Ever so slowly filling up a pot. I smell the murky spicy scent that the various plants give

off. I breathe in the fresh clean

air, Filling my lungs up.

As I look around again, I take in my surroundings filled

with nature, Colors I never knew existed

before they blinded my sight. What a variety of colors that

exist in this world. Forever I will ponder in my

busy head, Is there even a point in all

this? Sitting here wasting the mo-

ments of my life. Will this ever help me in any

way, Does any of this even matter?

Why am I even here? --Elaine Yang

 Organism of the Year:  Mighty Mycorrhizae 

March 20, 2012 We are mycorrhizae, often known as  root  fungus, and we de‐

serve the title of “Organism of the year”. As you have  learned over the past few days, soil is necessary to all life. Soil provides homes to all sorts of organisms, contains nutrients  to support  life, and most importantly, provides  the means necessary  for  life. Soil provides a place  for plants to grow which feed animals who  feed us. Soil also provides a place for trees and plants to grow which release oxygen into  the  atmosphere,  allowing  us  to  survive. Many  people  forget that it is not just the soil that is important; if plants didn’t live in the soil to provide food for us, life as we know it would not exist. In fact, there wouldn’t be life at all. Roots, if I could be so blunt, are one of the main  reasons why plants  can  survive  in  the  soil. Roots  collect nutrients and water from the soil, hold loose dirt in place, and pro‐vide a base  for plants. And my  super  important  job  is  to help  the roots. 

We mycorrhizae  colonize  plant  roots  and  become  fully  func‐tioning extensions of a plant’s  root systems, often absorbing more nutrients and water for the plant than normal roots. In fact, because we  gather more  nutrients  and  water  than  regular  roots,  90%  of plants  form  symbiotic  relationships  with  other  beneficial  my‐corrhizae like us. We are like swords; extensions of the arm, or root in  this case. To give you a better  idea of our plant‐helping philan‐thropy, we increase the surface absorption area of a plant’s roots by 100 to 1,000 times. In fact, several miles of fungal filaments can be present in just a thimbleful of soil! 

So how does these extra nutrients and water help plants? Well, mycorrhizae increase the total mass, strength, growth, and nutritional value of the plants whom we attach to. We also  increase the growth rate  of  seedlings,  the  chances  of  survival  after  transplant,  and  the amount of flower buds, fruits, and stems the plant will grow. In all, we benefit plants because we make  them  stronger, healthier, and more fruitful.  Just  think, we bond with 90% of plants  to  give  them  these benefits and more. What would happen  to  the world  if we weren’t here? Another issue that we mycorrhizae help fix is soil loss. The loss of soil through wind and water erosion is a very serious problem. Topsoil loss is  the  loss of  the  rich, nutrient  filled soil making up  the  top  layer of soil. This topsoil  is the most nutrient‐rich and  important  layer of soil because  it  is  provides  the majority  of  nutrients  our  food  needs  to grow. Topsoil  loss occurs when water and wind carry away  layers of this soil faster than  it can be created, polluting rivers with pesticides and chemicals and killing the bio‐diverse population that  lives  in the soil. 

Fun Fact of the Issue: It takes thou-sands of years for a rock to become soil, but wind and erosion can destroy soil at a much quicker pace. Let’s conserve our soil and switch to healthier farming methods!!!

  One of the main reasons topsoil loss occurs is because we ruin the condition of dirt by farming the same crop and removing all dead plants before they can become humus to enrich the nutrient‐drained soil. Too often farmers remove plants right after a harvest and pull out their roots which hold soil in place which causes dirt to become loose and blow away easily. This loose dirt is the soil that is blown or washed away. What we mycorrhizae do to fix this problem is hold the dirt in place like roots in nature do. Because we are huge extensions of roots, we can hold a lot more dirt in place than a regular plant. This is why dirt with even small plants stays in place. As Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people." So let’s not destroy the earth any longer and instead, vote for mycorrhizae to save the world. 

—Mycorrhizae Board of Directors 

Soil Organism of the Year: Mighty Mycorrhizae

Fibonacci Numbers: Fibonacci discovered that a series of numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc., appear naturally in nature, usually in the amount of seeds, leaves, or petals. These numbers show up in flowers, trees, pinecones, and much more!!! Fibonacci numbers also form a spiral when boxes representing the

numbers are con-nected!!! This spiral can be found in cer-tain flowers and plants, too.

A victory garden is a home garden used to cre-ate food production during WW1. However, Vic-tory gardens were around long before the war, as early as the 1800’s. Victory gardens are won-derful ways to bring communities together. One of the most beneficial things about victory gar-dens is that, it reduces your carbon footprint! How you may ask, well we will tell you. If your food is locally grown then it won’t have to travel an average of 1,500 miles to get to your table, every single day of the week. Not only will lo-cally grown fruits reduce your carbon footprint, but it is healthier for you too. Since the food doesn’t have to travel a long way to get to your dinner table, pesticides and preservatives are not used. The lesser amount of chemicals, the healthier it gets.

Victory Gardens

We felt that throughout the soil unit we learned a lot of infor-

mation while having loads of fun. We felt that the soil unit was one

if the most wonderful and enriching experiences that we ever had.

Before the soil unit, we knew very little about soil. But, now we

know how important it is, and how we can tend and care for the liv-

ing things in the soil and how we can protect the soil. Elaine’s fa-

vorite activities were when we got to do hands-on activities. Sam’s

favorite activity during the soil unit was finding a secret, peaceful

spot in the Arlington Garden. Laurence really liked working to-

gether as a team on the magazine and propaganda posters. We

really enjoyed working on the magazine and we hope that you

would enjoy reading it.

We are glad that you spent the time to read our paper. Hope-

fully, you learned something new and you will take better care of

our planet. As you know, we are the future, so we have to save the

planet before it is too late. Thank you so much!

~Elaine, Sam, and Laurence

Next Edition Release Date: 4/23/2557!!!!! - Ten Steps to Creat ing a Victory Garden - Win a thousand dollars by creating the best drought tolerant garden - Grow Your Own Edible Mushrooms!